A Friend Once Lost
by JSchneider
Summary: Naruto leaves Konoha to find Sasuke, leaving Sakura behind. NaruSaku. Chapter 6 up, R&R please!
1. Prologue

Chapter One

Two and a half years. 30 months. 912 days. 21,900 hours. 1,314,000 minutes. That is how long it's been since that day. That fateful day when Sasuke left Konoha, his friends, his life, behind. That is how long it's been since Naruto Uzumaki lost his best friend in the entire world. And he was determined to get him back.

A slight breeze fluttered through the forest. Past hundreds of trees, it finally found what it seemed to be looking for. It rustled the nearby leaves, making an ever so quiet sound as it did so. Naruto Uzumaki woke with a start. He sat up quickly, woken by the sounds of the leaves. Looking around, Naruto's heart seemed to race in his chest, punching him from the inside. Seeing that there was nothing nearby, he got up slowly, stretching. He walked over to his pack, grabbing his orange jacket; he threw it over his shoulder, zipping it up half way, leaving his black T-Shirt visible. Reaching into the back pocket of his jeans, he grabbed the roughly drawn map, unfolding it and staring while he searched for food in his pack. He devoured an apple, and was reaching for another one when he heard the branch snap. Stopping instantly, Naruto's ears perked up at the sound, trying to find the source. He stood there, motionless, waiting desperately for something, anything, to happen. As quietly and as slowly as he could, he reached for his kunai pouch which was still strapped to his leg. Pulling one of the razor sharp knives out, he quickly threw it. It flew like lightning through the trees, nailing the small rodent in the head, killing it instantly. Naruto walked over to the body, staring at it with a cold look in his eyes. He had long since gotten used to seeing death. Turning around, Naruto found his way back to his pack. Tossing it onto his back, he headed out.

He walked. For days on end, Naruto walked, never running, stopping only when he was too tired to move on, he walked. Finally, after two weeks, he reached the spot. The spot where his life was torn apart. The Valley of the End. The name seemed so appropriate to Naruto at this moment. This was the point in his life where his best friend in the entire world left him. He had tried to bring him back, threatened to break every bone in his body to do so, but it didn't work. No matter what he did, no matter how hard he tried, he could not bring Sasuke Uchiha back home with him. Sighing, Naruto moved on. Out of the Fire Country, and into the Sound Country. Into the country that had stolen his past, his present, and his future. As he walked, it started to rain. The previously sunny sky was shrouded with darkness as the clouds enveloped him. As the rain fell, a single drop of water on his face, tracing a single, wet line, dribbled all the way down to his chin. Blinking furiously, Naruto continued walking.


	2. Medical issues

Chapter Two

Sakura Haruno, Chuunin of Konoha, rushed about the hospital. Ever since she had taken up her training with Tsunade for two and a half years, she was now one of the best doctors in the Konoha Hospital, or, at least, as much as Tsunade allowed her to be. She ran into the emergency section of the hospital, finding the room she was looking for. A genin had been attacked while on a D ranked mission, and was in critical condition. It was up to her and her assistants to save his life. As she entered the room, she looked at the boy, and stopped. She stood there, completely frozen at the sight of the young ninja. A young boy, no older than 13 years old, with blonde hair and blue eyes, he looked amazingly similar to the one who was on her mind almost every moment of every day, Naruto Uzumaki. She stood there, completely unable to move at the sight of the boy. One of the nurses, who was holding her hands over the boy's chest, turned to her. "Sakura-san, what are you doing?" she asked, a pleading look in her eyes, anyone who had worked at the hospital for any length of time knew that worried look. It was a look that said that the nurse wouldn't be able to last much longer without some kind of help. Nevertheless, Sakura stood there, frozen to the spot, staring in wide eyed fear at the boy whose life was bleeding out of him from the gaping wound in his chest. Slowly, the clip-board that she was holding in her hands slipped out, falling to the floor with a loud crash.

Suddenly, the doors behind Sakura burst open. Tsunade flew past her, almost knocking the senseless Sakura off her feet, and moved towards the boy. Without a second thought, she turned to the nurses that were trying to say the boy. "Get out of my way; I'll take care of this…" She said, waving everyone off as she formed a series of hand seals. When she finished, she lay her hands gently on the boy's chest, as a soft greenish glow emanated from them. Without looking up, she said "Sakura, my office, now." Without any outward sign of protest, Sakura obliged, turning around and leaving the room.

She sat there, in her sensei's office, staring at the wall. The walls were almost blank, so there wasn't much else to do. As she sat, Sakura thought. She thought about how she had felt when Naruto had finally come back after two years of training with Jiraiya-sama. When she had first caught a glimpse of him as he walked through Konoha, she had been almost swept away. He looked so much older, so much…better. At the time, she hadn't recognized the feeling but, now that six months had passed since his arrival, she had had plenty of time to contemplate. The more she thought about it, the more she came to the same conclusion. She liked him. There was something about him that had attracted her to him, and, though she didn't know what it was, she couldn't help but appreciate it.

Mid-way through thinking about Naruto, the door to the office opened. Tsunade barged through, almost knocking into Sakura's chair as she passed. She wasn't angry; Sakura could tell that much, but that fact alone made her more scared than before. Usually, for something like skipping out on a patient in a condition like the boys', Sakura would get sorely beaten, but something else seemed to have her sensei's mind at the moment.

Tsunade sat at her desk shuffling through her papers, not saying a word. Sakura stared at her, waiting for something, anything, to happen. After ten minutes of absolute silence, she decided that she might as well start the conversation off.

"Tsunade-sam-"she began.

"The boy's fine." Tsunade said, cutting her off mid sentence. She still didn't look up at her papers, and this unnerved Sakura. She tried to apologize for what had happened.

"I'm so sor-"

"Don't even begin to apologize, I know why that happened. I noticed the similarities too. He did look a little like Naruto." Tsunade said, once again cutting her off. Sakura blushed at the comment, averting her eyes away from Tsunade's face. How had she known?

"You've been slipping lately." Tsunade said, finally making eye contact with her. "I've noticed that you've slowly but surely gotten slower around the hospital since Naruto left 2 months ago. I knew that I should probably keep an eye on you, and when I found out about the boy, and his appearance, I knew that that would probably be your limit. I understand how you feel. That is why I am not angry." Sakura thought about these words. She remembered then that Tsunade-sama had lost both her husband and her brother, and had been at both their sides when they died. This humbled her own suffering, and she couldn't help but feel guilty about losing her concentration over something so small in comparison to her sensei's suffering. Out of things to say, she sat there in silence, not making eye contact, just staring at the floor between her feet.

"You like him, don't you?" Tsunade asked suddenly. The comment almost floored Sakura, she stopped moving, and her eyes darted up towards her sensei. As she did, her cheeks started to turn red with embarrassment at the thought.

"No need to be embarrassed Sakura. I know you've like him for a long time. I would have to say ever since her came back from his training. Am I right?" Tsunade asked, knowing full well she was.

Sakura said nothing, just nodded her head and continued to stare at the floor. Suddenly, the chair behind the desk squeaked. Sakura looked up just in time to see Tsunade approaching her. When they were closer, Tsunade suddenly grasped Sakura by the hands, and hauled her to her feet, enveloping her in a hug.

"It's ok to miss him. I know what it is like; I know it isn't easy to not have the one you love." Tsunade said to the now silently crying Sakura. They stood there for about 2 minutes, Sakura crying quietly, and Tsunade embracing her. Finally, the sobs fell completely silent, and the two broke apart. Sakura stared up into Tsunade's eyes. For the first time in her life, she saw not anger, or pure power, but something more soothing, more caring. It seemed that finally Tsunade's feminine side had brought its way to the surface.

"If you want to, you can go to him." Tsunade said. Sakura's bleary eyes blinked several times before locking with Tsunade's.

"Wh-what?" She stammered.

"If you love him, you can go to him. I will let you do that much at least." With these words, Sakura was flooded with emotion. She finally was able to do what she had wanted to do for two long months, go and find Naruto. With tears once more building up in her eyes, Sakura turned, and ran out of the office.

She ran and ran, through the busy streets, pushing past and through people, and finally back to her house. When she got upstairs, she lay down on her bed. She lay there for hours, thinking of nothing but Naruto. Now, she finally had the one chance in her life to go and find him. She couldn't remember any time in her life when she was happier. Even when her, Naruto, and Sasuke had been on a team…Her thoughts stopped. What had happened to him? What had happened to the one that she was sure that she had loved? She remembered back to her childhood, when she was so fanatically obsessed with Sasuke Uchiha. She was sure that she loved him. But, after he had left, and after what he had done to Naruto, she couldn't help but fell at least a little scorn. She had been abandoned by the one she loved, and he had almost killed one his best friend. The thought scared Sakura. She began to think, 'what if I can't handle meeting him again?' she thought to herself. 'What would I do if we were to meet?' That is obviously where Naruto was heading, but what about her?

After long thought, she had made up her mind. Even after all he had done to hurt her, Naruto, the village, and everyone else, Sasuke Uchiha was still her friend, and he still needed to come home. It was with these thoughts in her mind that she drifted off to sleep.

Sakura awoke the next day at around noon. She slowly sat p, stretching, and standing up. She looked down; she had fallen asleep in her clothes from yesterday, and hadn't even gotten under her covers. She moved slowly, walking around her house, gathering her supplies. She had decided that today was going to be the day. Today was going to be the day that she set out to find her long lost friends. After she finished packing, Sakura headed towards the gates of Konoha. She reached them, and stared out into the wilderness. She really had no idea which way Naruto had gone, since he had snuck out of the village, but she knew that Sasuke was with Orochimaru in the sound country. With one last look into the village, Sakura Haruno headed out.


	3. Flashback

Obviously, I don't own Naruto...I wouldn't be here if I did...

Chapter 3

Naruto drifted through the town. It was a small town, called Kofu, one that he had never heard of before. Absently walking, the usually cheerful Naruto was depressed once again. Even after all this time on the road, he couldn't help but think about Sasuke. Even though he was on a mission to retrieve him, he still tried not to think about it. But, try as he might, he could think of almost nothing else other than his friend, and the choices he had made. Desperately trying to think of something else, he thought back on the day he left Konoha.

_--------Flashback--------_

Naruto walked through Konoha, deep in thought. He had been here for four months since his training was finished. He'd been on plenty of missions, and was happy about that, but there was still something missing. He couldn't help but think about Sasuke, his long lost friend, and how he had been taken from him. The more he thought about it, the more he thought about their past. Sasuke had always been better than Naruto at, well, everything. But, after two years of training, Naruto began to wonder if he might have become strong enough to bring him home? He had trained with Jiraiya-sama after all. Then, another thought barged into his mind.

_Well, Sasuke trained with Orochimaru all this time as well. And, as far as you know, Orochimaru is at least as strong as Jiraiya-sama, maybe even stronger_.

The thought chilled him to the bone. Sasuke was always amazing enough, but now that he had had 2 years to train with one of the strongest ninja in the world, who knew what could happen?

Deep in thought, Naruto almost bumped into Sakura. He had noticed that she was skulking around more frequently lately, and he wondered why. It almost seemed as though she was nervous about talking to him. That had never been the case as long as he could remember, and he couldn't figure out why it had changed now.

"Umm, hey there Sakura-chan…" Naruto said sheepishly, scratching the back of his head. "H-how's it going?"

"Oh, um... hey there Naruto-kun" Sakura replied, staring at the ground. She didn't answer his question.

Naruto stared at her, waiting for a response. When all he got was a look at the top of her head, he decided to speak.

'Well, um, I guess I'll see you around…" he said, still waiting for some kind of response from her. When she didn't say anything again, Naruto turned around and left.

He couldn't help but feel angry at Sakura. He didn't know why she was so quiet all of a sudden. She was always almost as loud as Naruto himself when they were younger. But ever since he had come back from his training with Jiraiya, it seemed that she had changed. It almost seemed as if she was avoiding him.

Naruto roamed through the city. Today was a day off, and, first the first time ever, he really didn't feel like training very much. Finding nothing interesting to do, he kept walking. He passed all kinds of people and places. From giants to midgets, from weapon shops to comic shops, they were all here in Konoha. But there was something that completely occupied his mind today. Sasuke. Sakura had interrupted his thoughts for a while, but, like always, his mind slowly drifted back to his friend. He still couldn't believe that it had been 2 years since he had left. He still thought about their final fight at the Valley of the End. He remembered every detail about the fight. Every word, every swing, he even remembered when he had lost control. He had let the Kyuubi out on his best friend. But, even with that power, he had been unable to stop him.

Naruto stopped walking, the person behind him bumping into him, and cursing quietly. He stood there, shaking at the thought. No matter _what_ he had done he wasn't able to bring his friend back. It seemed that all the bragging that he did as a kid really was a lie, after all. He smiled to himself at the cruel thought of it. _Well, I'll change that now_, he thought to himself.

As he continued through the village, he continued to brood on the subject. The more he thought, the more he knew. The more he knew, the more he thought. He had to leave. He had to go and find Sasuke. He planned his departure as he walked to his house, or really, his apartment.

Naruto opened the door to his apartment. It was a small, single bed room, with little more than a microwave, refrigerator, and a life supply of 3-minute ramen. But it was home, and it had been for the past ten plus years of his life. As he set his equipment and other things down on the table near his bed, he continued to think. He ran through a list in his head of equipment and precautions that he would have to take with him when he set out. Slowly, deliberately, he walked through the building, hunting down anything that he was missing. He grabbed his kunai knives, shuriken, scrolls, food, a thin blanket, and all the money that he could find from his missions.

When he was ready to go, Naruto quietly turned off all the lights, and turned to leave. When he got outside, he was surprised to see that it was dark. Without even meaning to, he had stayed in his apartment for three or more hours. Taking one last look at his house, he turned to leave.

----------_End Flashback----------_


	4. Blackout

Chapter 4

Sakura took off walking through the trees. As she moved, her mind wandered to all sorts of different places. The more she thought about what she was going to be doing, the more she didn't like the odds of it being done. 

_I have to find Naruto…he could be anywhere…I don't even know where to begin to look…I don't think I can do this…but I must do this._

She pondered the idea for hours, trying to think of a best course of action to find Naruto. As she thought about him, she suddenly felt sad. _Why was I so cruel to him_ she thought, thinking of the time two months ago when she had seen him in the street. She was just finished with her work at the hospital, and was seriously thinking about something else at the time, but still, that didn't give her an excuse to completely disregard Naruto when he tried to make small talk. _Why_ had she been so quiet? Usually she always had something to say, anything from a proper response to the statement, or a swift punch to the side of his head. But this time…this time she had done nothing. She hadn't said anything, hadn't done anything, just left him standing there. Even though he had tried to hide it, Sakura could tell that Naruto was angry with her lack of response. And he had every right to be. Was she not almost as loud as Naruto when they had been younger? Sure, she was more mature than he was, but still, she was really loud, especially when she was around him. 

_Hm, I guess I never noticed that before…_ she thought to herself.

As she walked, Sakura finally thought of a plan that might do her some good. At least, for now anyway. She decided to approach the nearest town to Konoha, and see what she could dig up there. She had brought a picture of Naruto with her to show to people, see if anyone recognized him, and reached behind her to her pack, where the picture was. 

Her hand never made it. 

As she reached for the pack, another hand reached out from the shadows, grabbing her by the wrist, and wrenching her around. The force of the pull was almost enough to break her arm at the shoulder, but she didn't even get her scream out before another had reached over her face. Acting instinctively, Sakura stomped hard with her foot towards where she thought an attacker's foot would be. She was rewarded with a loud curse. The voice was low, husky, obviously from a large person, male most likely. She threw her weight forward, trying to throw her attacker off of her back, but she wasn't strong enough. Whoever this was knew her strength, so had wrapped their legs around hers in order to keep her body straight. And he was strong. She couldn't move the person because of her lack of momentum, and instead came crashing down onto the ground, her attacker on top. The fall, plus the weight of her attacker knocked the wind out of her, causing her vision to go blurry temporarily. This was apparently enough for her attacker, because he let go of her, moving to get off. As soon as the weight lifted, Sakura lashed out with a hard backwards kick towards her attacker's groin area, but the attack lacked any of her characteristic strength because of the fact that she was on the ground while doing it. Still, even without her chakra infused into the kick, Sakura was strong. Chakra control wasn't the only reason she was stronger than almost anyone. Tsunade had also trained her body to where she was hard as a rock. 

She was once again awarded with an even louder curse. She turned quickly to try to get a good look at her attacker, but all she saw was a giant. This guy was huge. He was easily three times her size, therefore explaining his resilience to her strength. She didn't get a look at anything in detail on the man before his hand came in a hard right chop, hitting her right in the side of the neck. Her head exploded with pain right as she blacked out.


	5. Interrogation

**Ok, I finally got around to typing up this fifth chapter of A Friend once Lost. This is where we start some of the plot action. The two characters introduced here are actually characters that I use to Role Play with on Naruto RPG sites (Yes, nerdy as hell, but I don't care!).**

**Anyway, hope you enjoy this chappy!**

Chapter 5

Everything was a blur. The colors all blended together in a grand mosaic to where no one could pick out anything in detail. All the color swarmed around her as Sakura's eyes slowly started to open. Slowly but surely, the colors started to come together. Sakura slowly saw an image of a full moon night. There was a path, with trees along side of it. Something about this place seemed so familiar. Looking around her, Sakura began to walk towards the path. She had no idea how she got here, but she somehow knew that she was supposed to walk this direction.

When she got on the path, Sakura turned to her right. What she saw froze her to the ground. Sasuke Uchiha walked towards her. Hands in his pockets, pack on his back.

Unsure of what to do now, Sakura stood there, still frozen.

Sasuke continued to walk, seemingly unable to see her standing there, or just choosing not to. As he approached her, Sakura held her breath, wondering what he would say, what she should say.

"What are you doing out here late at night?" Sasuke said. The words cut through the silence like a knife. She suddenly realized that he had stopped walking, and was staring at her. After a few seconds, she finally got the words out of her mouth.

"Because, in order to get out of the village, you have to use this road." She said, tilting her head down.

Sasuke didn't reply. Instead, he started walking again, turning to go around her. Sakura didn't resist, letting him walk by without even moving to follow him.

As his footsteps died away, Sakura was surprised to feel a tear running down her cheek. She couldn't let him go, not like this.

She turned around, determined to tell him…to tell him she loved him. She loved him so much. But as she turned, she was surprised to see that it was no longer the black haired love of her life. Instead, she saw blonde, spiked hair. Her eyes widened at the sight as she began to stutter.

"N-N-Naruto?" She asked, unsure of what she was seeing.

Instead of saying anything, Naruto just stared at her, a bright smile on his face. Slowly though, that smile began to fade, gradually transforming into a stern look. She had never seen this look on his face. It was almost…cold.

As she thought about it though, Sakura slowly realized that she _had _seen that look before. The day he had left, when she had almost completely ignored him.

Wanting to say something, anything, to bring that smile back, Sakura opened her mouth to speak.

"Wake up, Bitch." Naruto said his expression unchanging.

"What the fuck?" She replied, completely astonished.

"I said, wake up bitch." Naruto, who was suddenly in directly in front of her, said.

Sakura was about to reply when she felt a harsh stinging on her cheek. Had he just…slapped her? She couldn't believe it, Naruto would never do that to her. Also, how did he get so close all of a sudden? Sakura stepped back, unsure of what to do now, but wanting to leave.

Suddenly, she was jerked awake by a forceful set of hands that were currently shaking her, one hand moving back to hit her once again.

"Enough!" A loud, low voice echoed from behind the set of hands. The fist stopped mid-air, slowly lowering to the owner's side.

As everything slowly came back into focus, Sakura looked up to see a massive man standing directly in front of her. She tried to move, only to discover that her entire body was tied to a piece of wood, holding her in place.

When she realized that she wasn't going anywhere, Sakura looked up to look her captor in the face.

What she saw shocked her.

A huge man, easily 250 lbs of muscle, stood directly in front of her, blocking her view of almost the entire rest of the room. What she could see wasn't helping her cloudy vision, so she focused on staring the behemoth in front of her down. When she looked into his eyes, she was startled once again. Instead of the typical dark colors of most people's eyes, this man eyes were red. So red in fact, they almost reminded her of Sasuke's Sharingan.

"Hello there, Haruno Sakura." Said a low, menacing voice from somewhere behind the monster that was in front of her. The monster (as she had unofficially dubbed the man directly in front of her) stepped out of the way, a smile growing on his lips.

"How…how do you know my name?" Sakura asked, looking around for the source of the voice.

"Oh, I know a lot about you, Sakura." The voice spoke again, all of a sudden directly behind her on her right side.

She flashed her head to the right at the sound, trying to catch a glimpse of him.

"You were born and raised in Konoha." The voice said, suddenly on her left side. She once again turned as fast as she could, but the voice had disappeared yet again.

"You entered the academy at age seven, and graduated with your class. If I remember correctly though, you had some…social problems with the other girls in your class. Am I right?" The voice asked again, once again in front of her.

As she stared, Sakura was slowly able to make out the speaker in the gloom, as he stepped closer to her; she was finally able to look at who was keeping her captive.

The man in front of her was about 6' tall, with stunningly bright silver hair, and with a ninja headband over his left eye. One of the most notable articles of clothing on him though was his face mask. If she didn't know any better, Sakura would probably almost think this was Kakashi-sensei. But, then again, he would never do this to her.

"Wh-Who are you?" Sakura asked, squinting to try and make out more details.

"Me? Oh, my name is Uhai Tatamachi, but that is not important." He said, leaning in to look her square in her face, and completely invading her comfort zone.

"What _is_ important, at least to you and I is everything you know about Konoha's defenses. You were the assistant to the Hokage there, were you not?" He asked, a mischievous smile growing on his face.

"You really think I'll tell you anything?" Sakura asked, trying to sound serious, and not horribly scared, like she was actually feeling.

"Oh, I think I can think of a few ways to drag it out of you. If you don't mind too much pain, that is." Uhai said as his smile grew even more, showing all of his perfectly straight, stunningly white teeth.

Now that he was directly in front of her, Sakura thought of two different things, one, his teeth were amazing, and two, his headband was that of Iwagakure, the village hidden in the stone, Konoha's greatest enemy, and the second largest of the Hidden Ninja Villages that were spread throughout the continent.

In her mind, Sakura groaned. Iwa was notorious for their ruthless tactics, and long-standing hatred of everything Konoha. Now, it looked like Sakura was going to experience these facts first-hand.

"Now, do you want to talk, or should we begin?" Uhai asked.

In reply, Sakura did nothing. Instead, she spat in his face, almost landing it in his mouth. Once this was done, Sakura braced herself for the hit that didn't come. When she opened her eyes again, Uhai was still standing there smiling. All of a sudden, he burst into flames, almost burning her, only to collapse in a pile of ashes on the floor.

"That wasn't very nice, Sakura" The voice had returned. The real Uhai walked out of the shadows, his face no longer smiling.

"Looks like we'll have to begin." He said as he turned to his companion, who smiled.


	6. Entrance

**Ok, Sorry that I don't write a lot. I know that this has taken me forever, but because of the lack of reviews that I was getting, I thought no-one was reading my story, so I kinda stopped writing. Now though, I think it's just that my story isn't long enough to be noticed by that many people, so I'll try to write a little more often. But, it's still probably gonna be a long time for this story to finish.**

**Anyway, here is a little update. Read, Review, and Enjoy!**

Chapter 6

Naruto roamed. The different smells of the city assaulted his nose all at once. Some of them were good smells, ramen, beef, an assortment of perfumes that were all being sold at a local stand, and some of them were bad smells, like body odor and industrial smoke. According to what he had read in some town advertisement, Kofu was one of the few industrial cities in the Sound country, which had almost no exports. In fact, the only thing they consistently seemed to make was ninja equipment.

As he walked, Naruto realized that he really had no plan for finding his friend. He hadn't really taken the time to think of what he needed to do. Of course, Naruto was notorious for never thinking things through, and that was one of the things that made him such a great ninja, he didn't focus on something long enough to see all the bad things that might come out of it, he just went ahead and did it. But now, he really had no idea what he was supposed to do.

Weary from travel, and eager to get something into his stomach, Naruto dropped by a local restaurant. He usually just ate ramen for dinner…lunch….and breakfast, but even he liked to indulge himself every once in a while.

As he entered the place, Naruto was greeted by a bubbly girl with bright blue hair. She led him to his seat, and handed him a menu as he sat down.

Looking over the menu, Naruto was surprised by the high prices. Even a bowl of Ramen here was five, six times what it would cost at Ichiraku's Ramen stand. Deciding that he wasn't really all that hungry after all, Naruto simply ordered some tea.

As he sipped quietly at his burning hot tea, Naruto's hearing stretched out, picking up different pieces of conversation between other people there.

"Pink hair."

_What?_ Naruto thought to himself, focusing on the conversation.

"Pink hair?" Someone said in a low, scruffy voice, obviously trying not to be overheard.

"Yeah, pink hair. She was a spunky one too. They say that even Mik Hyabusai had some trouble with her." This comment earned an amused whistle from the owner of the other voice.

Naruto set his tea down on the table, fully concentrating on the conversation going on between the two people. He didn't even notice the waitress, who had come back to place the bill on his table.

"Well, c'mon. I'm sure the boss'll want to talk to us when he finally gets the information out of her." One of them said, as Naruto heard the sound of two chairs screeching against the flooring.

The two men walked past Naruto, who continued to stare at his cup, they didn't even look at him so Naruto assumed that they didn't know he was listening in.

When they left the restaurant, Naruto quickly rose, throwing some money down onto the table without even bothering to count it. He followed the two men out of the establishment as they turned to go down the street that led out of town. As they all got toward the edge of the town, and the number of other people began to thin out, Naruto jumped up onto a building, determined to stay out of sight until he knew where these two were going.

They continued walking out of the town, into the nearby woods. Naruto followed them, keeping his distance, staying in the trees and out of sight. As they walked, Naruto's mind began to wander.

"_Could they be talking about Sakura? No, why would they be talking about her? What could she possibly have been doing to have gotten caught this far from Konoha?" _ The questions continued to pile up until Naruto thought that his brain was about to explode. He was mentally bashing his head against a tree until he saw the men in front of him stop. The questions instantly disappeared as he watched them look around cautiously before forming a series of hand seals and placing their hands on two nearby trees. In the area between the trees, reality seemed to dissolve, revealing instead of trees, a dark tunnel carved into a rock face.

"_What the heck?"_ he thought to himself as he watched in awe. The two men entered the hole in the rocks as the area around them began to dissolve again. When he saw this, Naruto began to panic until finally he decided to just go ahead and run in.

He leapt off the tree from which he was hiding, and sprinted towards the opening in the wall. As he ran, he reached into his pouch on his leg and grabbed two kunai, launching them at the opening. Then, concentrating fully on running like hell, he got within ten feet of the opening when he jumped, (more like dove) through the opening. He hit the ground hard, knocking the wind out of himself as he forgot to roll with the force.

As he lay there, he looked to see the entrance to the cave finish closing. Instead of a large green forest, there was now nothing more than a dark rock wall in its place. The air finally back in his lungs, Naruto rose to his feet. Looking around, he saw the bodies of the two men who he had followed, both with a single kunai lodged in the back of their necks.

"_Well, guess I can't stop now." _Naruto thought to himself as he began walking deeper into the cave. _"I sure as hell hope that this is Sakura, and not some big waste of my time."_


End file.
